In an apparent attempt at damage control, President Mbeki has effectively slapped a ban on government comments concerning the corruption scandal around his deputy, Jacob Zuma.

Both the government and ANC have suffered considerable embarrassment from persistent media reports about the investigation into allegations that Zuma sought to solicit a R500 000-a-year bribe from a French company that had successfully bid for a part of the multibillion-rand arms deal.

Just days after Zuma insisted the allegations were "baseless, defamatory and grossly unfair", and complained of a trial by the media, Justice Minister Penuell Maduna announced yesterday that the government had decided not to comment on the Scorpions' investigation into the deputy president.

Sapa quoted Maduna as saying: "With the support of President Thabo Mbeki we have decided not to comment on this matter. We are not in the business of running investigations through the media."

Maduna's spokesperson, Paul Setsetse, later told The Star a decision had been made that the government should not make any more comments until the investigation was completed. This was to ensure that the due process of law could run its course.

"This is a matter between the deputy president and the prosecuting authority ... and as far as the government are concerned, we will not be commenting any further until the investigation has been concluded," Setsetse said.

Scorpions boss Bulelani Ngcuka was also quoted at the weekend as saying he had promised Mbeki he would not make any more comments on the investigation.

"I made a promise to President Mbeki that I am not going to comment on the ongoing investigation, and I am not going to change that," Ngcuka told the Sunday Times.

Well-placed government sources said the move was an attempt "not to fuel the fire any further" - a reference to the continuing public debate on the corruption allegations against Zuma.

Earlier, ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe had said his party would no longer speak to the media about the Zuma probe.

Meanwhile National Assembly Speaker Frene Ginwala expressed displeasure yesterday after discovering that a parliamentary committee had destroyed the register of members' interests.

This is a key document in proving whether former transport minister Mac Maharaj had declared a R300 000 donation to his wife.

"I find it unbelievable and unacceptable that a committee could have taken such a decision - that they felt they could do such a thing. They should have brought it to the house and they never did," Ginwala said.

Ginwala made the discovery when Maharaj - who is under investigation by the Scorpions - called her to complain that records of his declarations to parliament had been destroyed.

"Mr Maharaj contacted me to tell me that he was quite concerned because he contacted the registrar of members' interests, only to be told that the records were destroyed. That was the first time I heard about it," Ginwala said.

The ethics committee had made the mistake of taking the decision without consulting parliament.

The registrar of members' interests, Fazela Mahomed, said the committee had made the decision to destroy the documents on August 19 1997. Therefore all confidential records from 1996, when the register first started, to 1998 had been destroyed after the 1999 elections.

"From 1999 onwards we have all the records," Mahomed said.

Maharaj is fighting to regain his credibility following reports that he allegedly received donations from Schabir Shaik, a Durban-based businessman who has benefited from a string of government contracts. Shaik is also a central figure in the probe against Zuma.

Ginwala was also fuming after the ethics committee was unable to meet for a second time yesterday because not enough MPs turned up to form a quorum.

With acknowledgements to Jeremy Michaels and The Star.